There are a couple of things you need to know about this short. The first is that roshambo is apparently a name for the game rock-paper- scissors although I have never in my life heard anyone call it that outside of this film. The second thing is that this film was produced by Free People, who are not a film production company but rather a bohemian clothing label and the reason for this short is to show off their newest catalogue, which the characters wear throughout. This sort of puts me in a awkward position because there is no question that this film is a fashion shoot or advert so should I watch it as such or see if it can be more.
The plot sees a man who is in back in Brooklyn for the day but heading out on a red-eye flight that night, he bumps into a girl he knows and they meet for a coffee but she cannot stay with him the rest of the day as she has plans. He challenges to a game of rock-pap, sorry, "roshambo" and if he wins she stays with him. He wins and this game shapes the rest of their day as they frolic, shop, look effortlessly cool, kiss with the sun perfectly silhouetting them, etc etc. Like I said, this is a fashion advert and while there is some plot here, this is about the models and the clothes so both the man and the woman are really cool, Brooklyn young people with big flats, cool everything but yet no demand on their time so they are relaxed and hanging out; to some these characters will be instantly familiar perhaps and you'll love them but to me they just seemed like caricatures or clothes horses, which is of course what they are. They mumble, they look awkwardly cool and sexy – when they grab a kiss on a dark Brooklyn street by the subway it doesn't look like some grubby PDA but rather like the most amazing profound moment shared between two people ever. The film doesn't show it, but I'd guess that even if one of the characters was filmed using the bathroom it would look like the sexiest most stylized thing you'd ever seen ever.
You see what my struggle is, the film is all about the style and superficial coolness of the characters and, more importantly, the clothes they wear. To give it its due though, the film does at least provide a day of fun and romance for the couple and superficially they have moments where the looks suggest more is going on and I did really love the openness of the final as it was a cool way to end. It is very well made by Aroch and Doe because the film does have some structure and it looks beautifully cool throughout, with great cinematography and every single shot stylized to within an inch of its life – it really feels like before any take the question was "is there any way we can make this take cooler, more laid back and filled with more effortless sexiness?". Actor Abbot and model Márquez do have a nice chemistry together although he is too obviously "profound sexy boy" while her one- line direction was "creative playful sexiness", so while they fit the short film it is hardly like they had to do much more than flirt and pose.
The end result is that the film is relentlessly superficial and styled from the clothes to the locations to the cinematography to the actors. The romantic "plot" is a decent frame for all of this and in fairness it is attractive to watch and has a nice ending but it is hard to get away from just how empty it is, how completely fake and forced all aspects of it are and ultimately how completely lacking in any heart it all is. It is an excellent fashion shoot / advert but it is a superficial and empty if viewed any other way.
